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It takes, to use a precise technical term, chutzpah, for a filmmaker to adapt the same source material as Stanley Kubrick. Yet that’s exactly what director Florian Frerichs (The Last Supper) has done with Traumnovelle, his film based on Arthur Schnitzler’s classic 1926 novella that also inspired Kubrick’s final film, 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut. Frerichs offers a cinematic take on the story that’s more faithful than Kubrick’s, and also more erotic. (Kubrick, for all his brilliance, tended toward chilliness in his work, even when dealing with racy themes). Nonetheless, it’s hard to avoid making comparisons, which inevitably color your opinion of this film receiving its world premiere at the Oldenburg Film Festival.

The story has been updated to modern-day Berlin, which allows the opportunity for such eyes-wide-opening touches as the one in the first scene, when two beautiful women come on to a man in...

Remember Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick’s exploration of marriage and relationships starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise? Of course you do!

Now, get ready for Traumnovelle, a new adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s famed erotic short story that inspired Eyes Wide Shut and that opens the Oldenburg Film Festival on Wednesday.

The drama, from German director Florian Frerichs (The Last Supper), stars Nikolai Kinski (Vikings: Valhalla, Masters of the Air) and Laurine Price (Phoenix, American Crime Story) as a respectable upper-middle-class couple that gets drawn into a secret world of erotic fantasy. The film also stars Detlev Buck, Bruno Eyron, and Nora Islei, with cameos from Sharon Brauner and Sharon Kovacs. Produced by Warnuts Entertainment and Studio Babelsberg, the movie will hit German cinemas in early 2025, courtesy of Apollo Film.

Before walking the red carpet in Oldenburg, Frerichs and Kinski took time out for a Zoom chat with THR about the film,...

This is not your father’s Traumnovelle.

Florian Frerichs’ new adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s famed erotic novella — the work that inspired Stanley Kubrick‘s Eyes Wide Shut — promises to be a much more explicit version of the story. The trailer for the film, which opens this year’s Oldenburg Film Festival on Sept. 11, is heavy on the hot and heavy (see below).

Nikolai Kinski (Barbarians) and Laurine Price (Phoenix) star a respectable upper-middle-class couple living in Berlin who get drawn into a secret and dangerous world of erotic fantasy. Detlev Buck, Bruno Eyron, and Nora Islei co-star with cameos from Sharon Brauner and Sharon Kovacs. Warnuts Entertainment and Studio Babelsberg produced.

Frerichs’ Traumnovelle follows many of the plot beats as Kubrick’s adaptation. After his wife, Amelia (Price) confesses to having sexual fantasies about another man, Jakob (Kinski), a doctor to the city’s rich and famous, becomes intrigued...

Traumnovelle, a new adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s famed erotic short story that inspired Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, will open this year’s Oldenburg Film Festival, premiering on Sept. 11.

The drama, from German director Florian Frerichs (The Last Supper), stars Nikolai Kinski and Laurine Price as a respectable upper middle-class couple who get drawn into a secret world of erotic fantasy. Detlev Buck, Bruno Eyron, and Nora Islei co-star with cameos from Sharon Brauner and Sharon Kovacs. The producers are Warnuts Entertainment and Studio Babelsberg.

Originally published in 1926, Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle got its most-famous adaptation courtesy of Kubrik’s 1999 feature starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The production famously shot over a record-breaking 400 days. Shortly after finishing the film, and just six days after screening his cut for Kidman and Cruise, Kubrick died.

Frerichs and his cast will attend the Traumnovelle world premiere in Oldenburg on Sept. 11. The...